you make it so easy
by bring me the evening
Summary: A simple meeting has such strange side-effects. [beginnings of Heatherpaw/Hollypaw]


**Title: **you make it so easy

**Rating: **K

**Characters/Pairings: **Hollypaw, Heatherpaw; beginnings of Heatherpaw/Hollypaw

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Warriors, or the characters, and the title comes from "So Easy" by Phillip Phillips.

**Authors Note: **Oh my god…. I told you all. I said it. This is so damn random and I just…I don't even know, man. I just…I don't. Okay. I randomly started writing about Hollypaw being late, and then Heatherpaw popped up…and I just fucking _ran_ with this idea. So this is short, it's REALLY messy, and I just..it's not my best work.

**Summary: **A simple meeting has such strange side-effects.

* * *

_For StarClan's sakes,_ she thinks, near-growling as she propels herself further through the territory. _Brackenfur's going to have my tail when I catch up to the patrol, I know it._ She was _never_ late – she wasn't a lazy toad likea certain cream-colored, stumpy-tailed tomcat who shall not be named – but Cinderpaw had wanted to stick around for a small chat and, well. Cinderpaw was known for her inability to understand when to end a conversation.

Hollypaw sighs as she pauses, taking a few deep breathes to stop her head from feeling so dizzy, and she raises her muzzle. Brackenfur's scent is potent, but she guesses that it's still quite some length away from her – perhaps a few dozen foxlengths?

She gives herself a moment to focus on where the scent was emanating from, before quickly padding off – getting close to the WindClan territory.

She's only been in warrior training for a moon, after all, and even though knowing scents and where to place them was practically an instinct, it's not an easy task to do at the moment. Thoughts of Lionpaw, continuously showing back up in the apprentices den with tired eyes and a sluggish exterior cloud her mind instantly, and she forces away a growl of irritation.

_He's an idiot._ She knows that, deep down, there was _something_ going on with him – but stubbornness is definitely a major trait in all members of her immediate family, so. It wasn't as though her brother would exactly admit to anything.

She's been so busy with thinking of Lionpaw and trying to make up excuses for her mentor as to why she was tardy – for the first time! - when her paws hit a different grass texture and she looks down.

The grass is shorter, and a bit rougher to the tough of her paw pads; Hollypaw gasps in realization when she looks up and sees hills upon hills, with a soft breeze echoing her frightened thoughts: _Mousedung! I've just stepped into WindClan territory!_

She immediately backs up quickly – she's stepped a good five paces across the border markings – and nearly trips over her own paws in her panicked state. _Great, just great! They'll scent me here, and then they'll tell Firestar, and Brackenfur's going to chew me out for this all-_

"Aren't you Lionpaw's sister?" The question causes Hollypaw to squeak out in alarm, and she clamps her jaws shut immediately because _no way_ will she show fear to another cat. "Hollypaw, right?"

Hollypaw looks over, and blinks in confusion when she sees an admittedly pretty light brown tabby she-cat staring at her. Wide and innocent blue eyes tilt to the side as the she-cat cocks her head over, with curiosity glimpsing in their depths.

Hollypaw frowns, her body still shaking – although it's definitely not as bad since she's in her own territory. _Maybe this cat doesn't notice?_ She thinks, attempting to find an explanation for the strange welcoming as she opens her mouth to speak. _She looks to be my age._

"Uh...yeah," she meows awkwardly, but then forcing her gaze to harden once she realizes all of the possible things that this apprentice could _do _with this information. "Who are you? How do you know my brother?"

The tabby smiles, padding forward just a little – which causes Hollypaw to flick her ears back, and for her gaze to narrow – and she waves her tail in a greeting.

"I'm Heatherpaw – a friend of Lionpaw's!" she meows, quite cheerfully. "I met him at the Gathering quite some time ago." Heatherpaw's wide and joyful smile, oddly enough, makes Hollypaw relax just a little, and for some strange, foreign emotion to flutter in her stomach.

_Did I eat something bad...?_

Hollypaw humphs. "You do realize that engaging in inter-Clan relations _is_ against the Warrior Code, right?" she asks. For an odd reason that she can't quite place, Hollypaw almost feels _bad_ when she sees Heatherpaw's eyes cloud, a more somber emotion taking hold.

Hollypaw frowns, realizing that – even though she _was _correct – she must've somehow hurt the other apprentices feelings. _Why do I even care? I don't know her._

"I don't _like_ him," Heatherpaw mumbles, shrugging. "As a friend, yeah, but not like _that._ We can still be friends with other cats of other Clans."

For a moment, Hollypaw thinks back on Willowpaw – the silver tabby medicine cat apprentice that she viewed as her second closest friend behind Cinderpaw – and she sighs.

"Well, yeah. But...well, you can never be _too_ careful." She tells her, flicking her tail-tip as Heatherpaw laughs – it sounds really nice and carefree, and Hollypaw wonders if her own sounds like that. Or is it as nervous and withheld as she was, deep down...?

Heatherpaw beams at her, the sad emotion that she formerly showed dropped. "So you follow the Warrior Code pretty closely, right?" she asks, her tone plainly curious – no sarcasm or rudeness to be detected. "I mean, if you're even wary of being friends with other cats, than you must."

Hollypaw rolls her eyes. "Well, you kind of just answered your own question."

Heatherpaw purrs. "You're actually fun to be around," Hollypaw blinks, slightly – or _very_ – offended. "Lionpaw said that you were a stick in the mud most times, but I beg to differ! I think that we can definitely hang out some more at the Gatherings."

_Lionpaw's an idiot,_ she thinks, but she drops her anger at her brother when she realizes how much she _likes _the prospect of talking to the WindClan apprentice some more.

"I have to find my mentor," she blurts out, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry about that, but I'm already late."

Heatherpaw frowns. "Oh," she meows with a small sigh. "Yeah, I have to get back to Crowfeather soon or else he'll probably yell at me, or something. I don't know," Heatherpaw wrinkles her nose bridge in distaste. "He's a grouch."

Hollypaw dips her head respectively, before quickly remembering that her scent was now _extremely_ noticeable and looking up at her new friend.

"Heatherpaw, do you mind uh...not telling anyone that I was in your territory?" she asks, feeling embarrassment creeping up on her when she remembers her mistake. "I made a mistake – I was really distracted at the moment – and I won't do it again, but I just don't want to-"

"I'll walk in the spot that you did, and if anyone asks, I'll just say that you came over and told me to be careful – that you thought I was getting close to the border. No harm done." Heatherpaw's wide smile, showing over a tiny glimmer of white teeth, makes Hollypaw purr.

"_Thank you._ I owe you one, definitely!" She meows, beginning to walk toward Brackenfur's scent once more.

Heatherpaw purrs after her. "Well, just don't drop me as your new friend, and you'll be fine with me!"

As Hollypaw pads off, meowing a goodbye to her new friend, she can't help but feel puzzled over the warm feeling in her belly, and at the strange feeling that she had to go over and talk to Heatherpaw some more.

_Eh,_ she thinks, shrugging and beginning to bound forward. _I probably ate a bad mouse, or something. Whatever it is, it's probably nothing._

Still, it did puzzle her how a simple meeting had such strange side-effects.


End file.
